Horse; China, Wei dynasty, A.D. 386-584.

Horse; China, Wei dynasty, 386-584 A.D.
Polychrome terracotta.
Attached thermoluminescence study.
It shows wear and material adhesions.
Measurements: 31 x 20 x 17 cm.
Figure made in round bulk standing on its four legs placed on a small base. The modeling of the horse presents an anatomy of realistic and detailed character that can be appreciated in the face and the riding clothes with which it is dressed. Its stylized bearing stands out, and its posture gives a great expressiveness to the piece due to the opening of the front legs that denote a movement and therefore the realization of an action. This type of piece used to be part of the grave goods of the Wei dynasty, since the horse was a symbol of rank and belonging to the high sphere in the social hierarchy. The piece still retains traces of the original polychrome applied as an engobe on the clay piece and not with glaze. The polychromy is especially visible in the riding clothes and in some of the horse's harnesses.
The Wei dynasty dominated northern China in the period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589), being the first of the northern dynasties. This period followed the fall of the Jin dynasty, and was a time when southern and northern China had different governments. Although the north was already since 386 in the hands of the Wei dynasty, the starting date of this historical period is conventionally placed at 420, when the refugee Jin dynasty came to an end, being replaced by the first of the southern dynasties, the Liu-Song. The pottery of the Southern and Northern Dynasties period is a continuation of that of the Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties period, when there was an important development of ceramic art based on the tradition of the Han period. Thus, mainly funerary figurines decorated with engobes continue to be made, but the techniques are perfected in a remarkable way, as well as the pastes, engobes, etc.